As we kindle this the flame, we honor and remember Those who have passed into the mystery. Their brightness lives on in our vision; their courage lives on in our commitments; and their love continues to bless the world through us.

We are grateful to mark time with seasons, to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, or to gather as family to remember our loved ones. In all these seasons, may we give thanks for the breath of life, ever mindful of the fragile nature of existence. May we live fully in each moment....

In my small-town congregation, our beloved dead seem to linger with us for a little while.

We remember the joys our departed gave us which opened us up to the life shared which is now ours to steward.

Ah, it’s true. When our ancestors spoke of heaven, they were speaking of this moment. When they went on about nirvana they imagined a time like this. When they sang of paradise, it was this morning they imagined....

You bring yourself before the sacred, before the holy, before what is ultimate and bigger than your lone life bigger than your worries bigger than your money problems bigger than the fight you had with your sister and your aches and pains bigger, even, than your whole being, your self who is part...

For five thousand years, or more, more than fifteen thousand generations, human beings have been invoking spiritual power. My predecessors, and yours, have gathered together to make sense of their lives and their place in the cosmos. And they have spoken aloud, and invited what they conceived as...

We light this chalice for the web of life which sustains us, For the sacred circle of life in which we have our being, For the Earth, the Sky, Above and Below, and For our Mother Earth, and for the Mystery.

Many of the past generation and many of today have found three abiding values in prayer: the quiet meditation on life, the reaching out toward the universal and the infinite, and the courageous facing of one's profoundest wishes....